Blowing Sand On Beaches

July 7, 1985|By Gray

As soon as Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire ridiculed the spending of millions of tax dollars on renourishing Miami Beach last week, he was on the receiving end of ridicule. The senator, bristled an aide to Miami's Rep. Claude Pepper, has a ''lack of understanding about the economy of Florida. Beaches are as essential to Florida as butter is to Wisconsin.''

Well, yes, beaches are essential to Florida's economy. No argument from this corner. But that has nothing to do with a terribly important point that the senator had touched on indirectly: Renourishing beaches time and again is not the answer to reclaiming Florida's beaches. Renourishment only treats the symptoms of disappearing beaches. The cure is for Florida to stop building on its beaches.

The Miami Beach problem that the senator has highlighted -- with his Golden Fleece Award for outrageous use of taxpayers' dollars -- shows how out of control the beach renourishment has become. The Army Corps of Engineers has spent $33 million in federal dollars to rebuild 10 miles of Miami Beach, which eroded because sea walls were erected to protect condos and hotels built too close to the water. The total cost of the project through 1994: $94 million, with Washington paying 59 percent.

The costs are exorbitant because pumping sand from somewhere else to fill up an eroding coastline never ends. A few bad storms come along and -- swoosh -- the beach needs to be renourished again at a cost of millions more. Furthermore, Miami Beach is only one of the Florida beaches that is being rebuilt. Since the 1960s the corps has spent $115 million to rebuild 65 miles of Florida's beaches. State officials estimate that there are 115 more miles of eroding beaches that badly need renourishment.

Okay, so Florida is going to have to renourish some of its beaches because there is no alternative to saving them. But there is an inexpensive and sensible way to protect a greater number of less developed beaches: Say no to any new building, including sea walls.

The Legislature took a first step this year when it banned all but single-family homes from the part of the beach that is expected to erode in the next 30 years. But Florida also should no longer allow people to build sea walls to protect their oceanfront real estate. Sea walls are a big reason why beaches are disappearing. Their steepness forces the ocean to hit harder and harder against the beach, thus taking more sand back out to sea.

The Cabinet took half a step toward banning sea walls last March when it decided on a general policy against them. However, it also decided to consider requests case by case. It has hung tough against new sea walls since March and that's a good sign. But it should ban new sea walls altogether. Then everyone would know the rules. Build on the beach and you risk seeing your house or condo fall into the sea. Everyone also would get the message that the beaches are for everyone, not just for people who can afford to live on them.